Manage Divide containers with IBM Endpoint Manager

Divide is a container solution for Apple iOS and Android devices. Divide is an app that acts as a workspace, or container, that mimics device capabilities while isolated from the rest of the device. This container solution allows information within Divide to be secured and managed separately from the rest of the device.

The latest release of IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices can also manage endpoints with Divide containers. So you can have the best of both worlds, managing mobile devices with their native management features or users with corporate services within a container.

You will want to have installed the Divide client on your mobile devices and you can request a trial of their enterprise console here.

I’ve documented the steps to integrate IEM with Divide below:

Select the Setup and Configuration Wizard and open Setup Enterproid Divide Management Extender. Note that you’ll need to obtain an access token by clicking on the link provided. Enterproid sent me an access token for our companies domain name.

Select Deploy Management Extender for Enterproid Divide and then select Take Action

Select the server where this will be installed. I chose the same server as my MDM Management Extender. Ensure this server has TCP port 443 access to api.divide.com

It takes a number of minutes for the appropriate software to be downloaded automatically from IBM’s cloud service and installed. If you specifically define which computers are members of the MDM site, ensure the Divide plugin is included too (see device type plugin explained here)You’re then ready to select Configure Extenders

Select the Divide Container as shown. Then enter your Divide domain name and access token. I copied the access token into Notepad just to ensure there wasn’t any incorrect spaces or extra characters.

Finally select Configure Enterproid Divide Management Extender, then the applicable container device and click OK. It will take a few minutes for the configuration to complete.

Once the configuration was complete all containers from the Divide cloud were displayed in the IEM console as shown (along side other Android and iOS devices which are managed too)

If I selected my iPad with the Divide container installed, I was able to perform a number of container controls:

What was nice, is that I can also define Divide polices from with the IEM console too:

I really like the user interface of the Divide client, which is the most critical factor with any container solution. Some container solutions have the reputation for not being that user friendly, so users end up trying to work their way around how they access their corporate email and applications. Which of course defeats the purpose of providing a container in the first place!

This new capability allows clients to both manage devices via traditional MDM (iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry) and now a powerful container capability. This is on top of managing Windows, Mac, Linux and Unix from the one console.